By NICK BILTON

February 18, 2014

Updated with new funding details and removed delivery statistics.

Kozmo tried it and failed — dismally. Urban Fetch did, too. But it seems Postmates, a mobile-delivery service that can fetch you everything from a burrito to a tub of Beluga Caviar, might actually have a better formula.

Since the dawn of the Web, start-ups have been trying to figure out how to do what your local pizza restaurants has been able to do so well for years: deliver something to your house or office in 30 minutes to an hour.

Yet finally, with the perfect medley of smartphones, GPS and mobile payments, the ability to never leave your house again and have everything dropped on your doorstep is here. And Postmates wants to play a big role in that.

The company was founded in 2011 and on Tuesday said it was now making more than 10,000 deliveries a week in the few cities in which it operates. Postmates also said it is announcing a new round of financing to help expand to new cities over the next year.

Bastian Lehmann, the co-founder and chief executive of Postmates, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters that when you factor in modern-day transportation start-ups, including Uber and Lyft, Postmates is the third most-popular deliver app available today.

While Uber specializes in delivering humans from point A to point B, the company often runs specials where it transports everything from Christmas trees to kittens. In addition to Uber, there is competition from big tech players too, including eBay, Amazon and Google, which are all testing out same-day or next-day delivery in certain areas.

Mr. Lehmann said that he recognizes the growing competition in this delivery space, but he believes Postmates holds an advantage over its competitors.

“Over the past year we’ve seen a lot of people talking about on-demand delivery, including eBay Now and Google Shopping Express, but we were able to get it right from the start by building our own network of bicycle messengers,” he said.

The majority of customers use the app for food and grocery deliveries, but there are also a number of people who purchase products, including gadgets and home goods.

Postmates takes a small fee each time it makes a delivery, and the company says it is profitable in New York City and San Francisco.

The company said on Tuesday that it was raising $16 million in its series B round of financing and Nabeel Hyatt, a partner with Spark Capital, the Boston-based venture firm which led the new financing round, will be joining the company’s board. This will bring the company’s total financing since it began to $22 million.

Postmates also asserts it is helping the local economy, a topic that has become a sensitive issue in San Francisco.

“We are currently employing a fleet of around 900 people to deliver products from local businesses in San Francisco,” Mr. Lehmann said. “Every time you press the button in our app, your local economy makes more money.”

Correction: February 18, 2014

An earlier version of this post incorrectly spelled the name of an early online delivery service. It is Kozmo, not Kosmo.